Accreditation decision is good news for county

This week the Franklin County School System received great news when AdvancED — formerly known as Southern Association of Colleges and Schools — recommended the system for accreditation.

During the organization’s review, the school system was given the highest rating possible in five categories of evaluation and the second highest rating in the remaining two categories.

While actual accreditation will not take place until this summer, the overall view AdvancED has of the school system should be a source of pride not only for the Franklin County Board of Education and all employees of the school system, but also for the communities the schools serve.

While Franklin County might not have big cities or large tax bases to boost funding for public education, it does have something Birmingham, Mobile and Huntsville do not have — numerous schools meeting the challenges of successfully educating today’s students.

In the era of proration it would be easy to allow standards to slide and compromise the quality of education area children receive. Instead the Franklin County School System met the challenges head on — usually by pursuing grants — and kept providing quality education.